Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Week 9: Space+Art

In this lecture, I learned that space is a very interesting topic when it comes to science and art coming together because it influenced a lot of revolutionary ideas and discoveries. I've seen videos about how the camera spans out from a human being and into outer space, but seeing it in the Powers of Ten video, it made it clearer to how exact or estimated it gets when it comes to measuring where everything is and how we deep to look into it. You could see it from every 10 millimeters and you could see everything from the city, state, earth, stars, space, etc. and goes all the way out to the milky way and goes right back exploring molecular cells inside the body relating to nanotechnology that we discussed last week. In the lecture video, Space part 1, there is an explanation how the telescope revolutionized how we saw outer space and the ideas and discoveries that came from it, it is truly amazing and unimaginable to be see that couldn't be seen with the naked eye. It is a tool that is able to help the human being explore the universe and influenced more advanced tools to better explore the universe.

In the other lecture videos, the topics of air crafts being sent to space with living beings inside or humans was explained and this fascinates me because to live in a world where long ago going into space seemed impossible has been made into a reality, and to live somewhere that explores beyond the human race and earth is amazing because we a curious species. Sputnik won the space race that was the world's first satellite to go to space by the USSR, and Laika(dog) was the first living being to be sent into space. All these things are amazing to be because apart from sending air crafts into space, humans were able to create spaceships, etc. to help the human or living being survive in it while in space which blows my mind. All this influenced ideas from people to further explore space such as capsules being sent into space, the Leonardo space art project where individuals work together to further investigate space activities, the Arctic Perspective Initiative where development of knowledge in technology towards regions in Arctic regions.

Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Event 3: Fowler Museum Masa, Robots and Androids

I am very happy that I attended this event because of the interesting topic discussed which was the research projects of robots and androids in Japan that are very advanced and amazing! The first thing we talked about was the definition of some robots/androids that were very helpful guiding what kind of robots were being shown in each different project. There were three types such as Humanoids that are robots that are in shape of a human being, Android that is a robot that looks and moves like a human being, and geminoid that is a copy of an actual human being. There were examples such as, Bishop android that were shown in the movies Alien 3 that were robots that had a figure of a human being, therefore, able to perform tasks that actual human beings aren't able to accomplish. It showed a ripped in half human being(robot) with fake guts everywhere which was awesome and disturbing to see because you can never see that in real life with the human being still fully responsive.
There was a project that Masa was involved with which was the Telenoid which is a teleoperated robot that is from the ATR Hiroshi Ishiguro Lab which was a very small robot that was in shape of an infant, and anyone was able to interact with it by hugging it, etc. It was very cool to see one of the first works of a robot representing a human being by walking, talking, etc. with Elektro, which was a giant robot who was able to talk for itself and explain stories in relation to represent a human with these characteristics, Elektro was given some sort of personality that was one of the first to be given this sort of work.
There were plenty of example of these different kind of robots that scratched the surface of artificial intelligence with interviews with robots with the ability to think for itself which was cool and scary at the same time because it was asked a very dark question followed with a dark answer that everyone hopes that robots don't take over the world with evil instead of the hope of helpful robots. I would love for artificial intelligent robots to help in the future and I'm sure they will, but I hope it doesn't get to the poient where it becomes dangerous because they want more things perhaps power or control which could put the human race in danger. There were little projects such as pepper which is a humanoid robot that is capable of recognizing regular human emotions that I think is pretty damn interesting and amazing for a robot to be able to so such a thing.
The project of Hiroshi Ishiguro making a replica of himself in human form with a robot was insane because his kid and wife were brought in to interact with it and the kid thought it was very creepy because like Masa said once you are in there, no matter if you know you are going into the same room as a humanoid, there is still this feeling of tension since it's a robot in a human form which is weird because humans aren't used to these type of interactions.It's amazing what technology could do and I can't wait for the future to see how advanced technology gets.

Monday, May 23, 2016

Event 2: Anne Niemetz in Media Design

In this event there were a lot of different parts of the presentation that I found very interesting. I was astounded to find out what has been done in regards to technology being used in forms to express art. For example, I found it weird that Niemetz and Andrew Pelling used these constructions of poles and covers of sheets with light shined on them at specific positions/parts in order to create this art of lights to pleasure visually. I fount it a good weird because it was unique and light shined on something could be visually pleasurable expressing beautiful art. Then another project that impressed me was Stretching L.A. 2003, where these groups of men got together wearing suits where they could control different words/phrases/sentences when they are said and how fast with just the different movements of the straps they had on their shoulders. It went to a point where they kept repeating words for a period of time and it almost sounded like some kind of beat, in a way, making some sort of music with it to my ears. It was an eary sound but the point that they were able to cue certain audio with the different movements of their straps, perhaps, forward,back, side to side, or any movement you could make to make the audio appear to the audience. That was very interesting because the technology used to create that must take a lot of coding, which was a topic that I discussed in my midterm. I may be wrong, but that is what comes to my mind when it comes to these kind of things.

There was another thing that was presented that blew my mind as well, it was the the sound waves of specific amplitudes where if played at once each, they play a tone where it is smooth, but once played at the same time, with one being stronger than the other, it created a sound wave where it began to become a sound wave instead of just a smooth tone. I found that pretty crazy because putting two different tone of sounds together could create a certain sound that doesn't match it when they each play a smooth tone but together play a wave type sound.

There was a fashion statement as well, where technology was brought to the fashion side of clothing colliding technology with the art of clothing which is such a huge deal in society. For example, the Cinderella Intoxication by Shiping Tohey 2012 where there is a dress filled with lights all around. It is revolutionary in the side of technology and art colliding because technology is used to create art with the clothing in order to make it stand out. I found it really weird with the dress, for fear of being hunted, where there were these objects that popped out making it really creepy, but very interesting as well. These new fashion statements could be the new face of revolutionary clothing in the future with technology.

Forks in sockets was very interesting because sounds created different electric shocks on a pole with just the different types of sounds. That's pretty amazing as well, considering that sounds have the ability to control electrical shocks.

Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Week 8:Nanotechnology+Art

In this week's lecture, I learned that nanotechnology is an area that can't be seen because it is too small,considering they are related to atoms and molecules, and they are available for us to observe and study them through touch and sound. In the lecture video part 1, Professor Vesna explains how they are related to atoms and the behaviors of these nanoscale objects can be used to create new effects. I really found interesting the different type of projects that were done to show the art of nanotechnology because it is something that you wouldn't think is possible because the size of these nanoparticles. In lecture video part 2, Dr. Gimzewski explains how there is a Scanning Tunneling Microscope that were atomic resolution images of surfaces that you were able to feel atoms, represented by a ball-like surface, in order to map out position of the atoms with the touch of your fingers. I find that incredible because you are able to feel something too small for the eye to see with just the touch of your fingers.

These small nanoparticles could help out in the medicine world with nano-medicine which is a therapy treatment and this will revolutionize medicine in ways that weren't possible with other medicines. There is medicine that targets specific tumors,such as Abraxane, for breast cancer. Nanotechnology is revolutionary to some parts in medicine because of this case where it could save people with breast cancer or other diseases that nano-medicine could help with(explained in lecture video part 4). I found it very interesting with the fact that nanotechnology is used in our foods and agriculture, explained lecture video part 6, that nanoparticles could be in our clothes,food, anywhere really. It could be in our candy wrappers that are edible in order to make it edible and foods that could be personalized. I find food that is personalized with your own needs of nutrition, protein,etc is insane due to the fact that you are given the opportunity to personalize a food to your own preference. Nanotechnology combines all the works of biotech,chemistry, physics, electrical and mechanical engineering that could impact our everyday lives, explained in Gimzewski and Vesna. 'The Nanomeme Syndrome: Construction of a New Science. I believe that nanotechnology is involved in our everyday life in some way, but it is starting to evolve and become involved in more things. More projects are coming along in order for nanotechnology to help out humans if it is with medicine or whatever, I am just glad to hear that we are able to do things as impacting as nanotechnology that we aren't even able to see. but there are representations of atoms to touch or hear. There aren't any limits for this type of technology to impact the art world.

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Week 7: Neuroscience + Art

This week I learned that neuroscience is very closely related to art because of the things scientists come up in order to explore the brain on how it works and why gets more advanced. In Neuroculture, by Giovanni Frazetto and Suzanne Anker, neuroscience gives the individual emotions, consciousness, why we make desicions, and more. There are plenty of tools and concepts of how we think the brain works such as electric microscopes where it first searched where the brain started and phrenology were explored being the different parts of the brain explained in Professors Vesna's lecture video. For example, Mark Cohen explains numerous amounts of devices that measure the brain or brain activity, for example, he talks about phrenology and how people will feel bumps on the brain to tell what actions an individual was involved with and a lens device that made you see everything upside down messing with what you actually see. For example, in the music video Fearing by Amygdaloids, it proves that we discovered with tools or devices that the Amygdola gives you the capability for an immediate response when there is a time of danger recognizing when your body needs to go to survival mode in order to protect yourself from danger. In Jungs, The Spiritual Problem of Modern Man, he explains how the modern man is in the immediate present and is fully conscious of the present and being in danger gives you the ability to become more aware of your surrounding helping you to be in the present moment.

Drugs are a topic in which it disrupts the normal flow of the brain and creates certain feelings, images, actions, etc. due to what type of drug you intake. For example, In Professor Vesna's lecture videos, she explains how neurochemicals are used to alter mental states which were Cocaine and LSD. This topic interested me because it is very fascinating how drugs are able to make you feel a certain way and see things that aren't real due to chemicals being understood by your brain making you see it. For example, LSD puts you in a dreamlike state which makes you see and feel intense, pictures, shapes, and makes sounds become images to you once heard. The field of vision was wavered and it is safe to say that if you didn't know what you took then you would probably believe you were going insane. There are many of artist, musicians that take drugs because it brings out the creativity out of them, therefore, are high when recording a song or writing a song or painting, I find that so crazy. Neuroscience has many studies on why all of this happens to to figure it out little by little makes it that much more interesting and extraordinary.

Saturday, May 7, 2016

Week 6: BioTech+Art

This week I learned that science and art really clash in this topic of BioTech because it includes the experimentation of animals, cells, genomes, technology, etc. in order to create some sort of art with it. The fact that artists can now use genomes,genes, it creates a new path for scientists to express their artistic ways through science(Biology and technology). In Professor Vesna's lecture video, she explains how there is Audio-microscope where you involve light and sound and you hear living cells, infogene(send message of human to the heavens by genome put into bacteria), and the one that stuck out to me the most which was micro injection. Micro-injection was where scientists got protein from jellyfish and modified it to glow where they inserted this into rabbits,known as green fluorescent protein. This is also an example from Defining Life: Artists Challenge Conventional Classification by Ellen K. Levy, where genes from coral species of fish added to genome of black and white zebra fish which made them glow in relation to the slime glow , and I related this to the micro-injection.

I find it really amazing that you could do so much with cells, genes, etc, to create art due to how and what the scientists defines as art. For example, in the lecture video part 2, I found it really interesting how Symbiotica, which is tissue engineering based projects, with their project Fish n' Chips where a robotic arm was run by goldfish neurons, and it gave the robotic arm the ability to draw something to create art with these neurons(live cells) within the network. This is something I didn't even know was possible to be able to move something technical with living cells from a fish to create art, I believe everything in the process is art.

BioTech and Art has no limits because in, Meanings of Participation: Outlaw Biology? by Chris Kelty, explains how you don't need sciences permission to do experiments and it is for nutty ideas, for example, extracting DNA from strawberries with just household products! That absolutely makes me want to go to my kitchen as fast as possible and try it. Ideas like these are everywhere in BioTech and Art, for example, in lecture video part 4, the project the Third Ear, where there is a sub dermal implant where jewelry is put into the skin and it molds around this piece. This falls into body modification and works as a piece of art to prove that human body limitations could be overcome. I was very fascinated with this topic because of all these example being so out of the box, and makes the boring part of science fun which relates science into making art with the art of science.

Monday, May 2, 2016

Event 1: Toni Dove Lecture

April 19th, 2016

This event was very interesting for me because it was closely related to robotics which interests me very much, and her works were very new and exciting for me. Dove showed us her project where a computer(technology) could read a individuals movements with a camera and you were able to control how fast,slow, what came up in the video, where to move it, and all by just moving your arms/body in specific ways in order to operate it how you wanted it to. The topic of robotics and art were very much expresses in this presentation because she also showed us a video where it reads these machines on your hands where you could be in some sort of virtual reality, where you could touch things, pick things, where it decides where you would go next and it gave me this feeling of horror fore some reason with the darkness within the video and the music playing in the background, but blew my mind with what you were able to do and discover from robotics(technology). I really enjoyed this event because it was welcoming to the viewers and it gave you the ability to be motivated by these projects to think and express yourself creatively as well. I would highly recommend it to classmates because it certainly isn't boring and isn't a waste of time, it is worth the time because of these extravagant things that you would see with your eyes that you might of thought couldn't be possible either now or couple of years ago. Technology does amazing. miraculous things relating it to med+art, which explains how hospitals use robotics in order to save lives. This all opened my eyes for my project in which I did on a food making fridge that could read the food you have in the fridge, and based on those foods, it makes/prepares it on the bottom half so you don't have to cook it(it involves variety options and recipes that are healthy as well based on your foods in the fridge.) This event inspired me to think creatively because of the projects shown to me and what is possible with technology nowadays, why not think outside the box, right? This is all art. Robotics is some kind of art, just like everything else is that is to evoke feeling and emotions.

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Week 4:Medicine+Technology+Art

This week, I learned that medicine is a huge part in the art world when it comes to the technology within medicine that is mostly known to be in hospitals. Professor Vesna explains in the lecture videos how there are medical technologies used for human dissection(goes back to the ancient Greeks, and ancient Egyptians) and in order to know where to cut they use modern day technologies such as X-Rays, MRIs, Cat Scans, etc. to figure out what is wrong with the patient in order to know what to do. Also explained in Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) as MIrror and Portrait: MRI Configurations between Science and the Arts, Casini explains that MRI is more than just a picture and should be seen as some kind of art(almost as a portrait of the individual) because it serves as an interpretation to the viewer, patient, etc. Gromala, in her video, explains how there are different types of images of the body and how that it is more than just pictures because they evoke emotions and feelings such as medical technologies do with X-Rays, etc. when the patient sees it or doctor or any other images fall under human body. Technologies that come up and help are such as the ones I mentioned, virtual reality goggles that could help relieve pain, microscopes to help see inside the human body, and very much more technologies to view this art of the human body. In Ingber's, Architecture of Life, he explains how complex the design of organ structure and body parts including cells and tissues which could all be seen through these microscopes that give the ability to see inside the body without having to cut open anything.

Another thing I would want to discuss learning about is the topic of plastic surgery that comes up in the lecture videos and how many plastic surgeries Orlan had to go through. Orlan wanted to show herself as beautiful with these surgeries, but I feel like it is disrupting the whole art take on it by messing with natural causes to display something you're not. That is how I feel because people who usually intake a lot of plastic surgery usually end up looking fake and just horrible in my opinion and it does not look like any type of art to me. I understand it is what they want to do and I respect that. but to use these medical technologies to change their whole face structure is just wrong for me and not artistic, it is just them trying to stand out in society. Other than that, I highly respect and appreciate the work the doctor/craftsman puts into creating something different to someones face.

Thursday, April 14, 2016

Week 3: Art+Robotics

In this weeks topic about art and robotics, I would like to bring up and discuss some topics about robotics and art. I would first like to bring up subject that was brought up in the lecture videos part one and two, which bring up the upcoming of industrial revolution technologies such as the printing press(explained in the historyofinformation.com, as well) and the world changing automobiles. They were seen as "a sign of beauty, the beauty of speed" which is crazy and incredible to think about considering that cars are the revolutionary way of transportation that we still use to this day and has advanced to others such as the plane, subway, etc, that all use robotic/electronic engines that are seen as high-quality technology to create this art form we call a car. I could see that technology is advancing from the very begin that we first started using technology to build things and now we are at very high levels, for example, on the line of building artificial intelligence which are human-like robots that could think for themselves, and end up either helping our world or slowly destroy it. We see this example from the video of Robotics by Machiko Kusahara, which explains these cyborg like robots who could help maybe rescue people when in trouble or even make jobs easier for people(an example used in the video of Astroboy who was a symbol of robotics in Japan and pop culture who was a human-like robot). Robots in the future could be beneficial, but at the same time could destroy things such as taking away jobs or maybe even taking over the world due to computers being able to think all on their own. I don't want to think of the negatives, but I like to think positively and hope these advanced robotics used for these artforms will help out this world. At the end of the day, these robotics have been influenced by art and art influenced by robotics giving everyone the ability to create art with robotics such as the examples of cars, the printing press, design art on computers, etc.

Another example or arts and robotics is Walter Benjamins, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, where he talks about how films and there is no place like a movie scenethat is being shot that has an illusionary nature is that of the second degree which is cutting. The studio uses mechanical equipment to create the shot that is this art of film to cut scenes to create a movie story line. For example, the Terminator and how he is a human-like robot that protects a human from a invasion and taking over of the world. Another example of this, is Douglas Davis, The Work of Art.., and how he explains that a photograph could be photoshopped and chopped up nowadays to where someone uses robotics to create art. Art influences technology and technology influences art.

Sources:

Benjamin, Walter. The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. London: Penguin, 2008. Print.

Davis, Douglas. “The Work of Art in the Age of Digital Reproduction.”
The MIT Press, 1995. Web. 19 Oct. 2012.
<http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/1576221?uid=3739560&uid=2&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21101286048881>.

Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Week 2:Math+Art

In this weeks lesson, I have learned that mathematics influences art and science through the readings and lecture. For example, In the lecture notes I learned the roots of mathematics and how it came about in order to influence art and science. Professor Vesna explains in the lecture video how the great artist, Leonardo DaVinci, uses mathematics in his art by using pyramid lines, studies geometry perspective to use in his art to create a reality to see with the eyes. I actually just took an Modern Art history course last quarter and I learned all about Noe-classicism and how geometry shapes were used to create perspective and reality(three-dimensional figures or objects). For example, I learned about Piet Mondrian and all about his use of squares and geometric shapes to create his art in relation to mathematics influencing art and science.

In relation to "The Fourth Dimension and Non-Euclidean Geometry in Modern Art" by Henderson, L., he explains how those who subscribed to fourth-dimension art are those who were under cubism and worked to distrust visual reality and create total abstract works. An artist that came to mind was Pablo Picasso and his devotion to cubism and using geometrical shapes(squares/cubes) to create abstract figure/objects falling into the fourth-dimension. This falls into the passage, Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbott., and how he talks about how we are able to perceive things differently in other perspectives and expands our minds in what we can actually see. We can inspect art works through a
different perspective and dimension which creates the whole fourth dimension that helps with this topic and mathematics used to create art relating to art and science. Here, The girl with the mandolin, by Picasso shows how he uses cubism to show shapes to create art so it is in relation to using mathematics with art and science.

I learned this week that learned this week that mathematics is used in more art than what we imagined, for example, in Leonardo DaVinci's painting of Vitruvian Man uses mathematics to show how art and science are related and intertwined within each other. Every artist uses mathematics in some sort of way using lines or shapes, that is all math using geometric shapes to create. In Math and Art:The Good, the bad, and the pretty , Annalisa Crannell explains how, "Most realistic art aims to depict a three-dimensional world on a two-dimensional canvas." creating realistic images to the eyes with geometric shapes. Mathematics, art and science are intertwined to create art and it is all in the roots to start reality painting and it is in the arts whether you like it or not.

Thursday, March 31, 2016

Week 1: Two Cultures

Hi, I am Christian Chavez and I am a second year sociology major. I play soccer for the school and I am really into music and I am going to relate this topic with the two cultures bringing in the third culture. In Two Cultures by C.P. Snow, he identifies two cultures which are literary intellectuals and natural scientists that are split into two worlds(humanities and the sciences). I encounter this separation on a daily basis just with the fact that UCLA is already separated with a north campus(social-science side) and south campus(science side).

I used to be a psych major before transferring into the sociology major and psychology consists of a social science which is intertwined with social(humanities) and sciences because the need to know of the brain and its scientific works, and the works of social interaction. This brings up the conversation of the Third Culture by Victoria Vensa she brings up that there is a unity that "the work of an artist utilizing technology are uniquely positioned in the middle of the scientific and literary/philosophical communities". Kevin Kelly also explains that the third culture is a pop culture based in technology. I am a believer in this third culture because I like to make music which is an art and I use the computer to help me put this art together, therefore, the combination of the literary side of the poetry that goes into the making process of the song intertwines with the scientific side of the usage of the computer technology to master sounds. That goes for music or design art in general that uses technology to create some sort of art including both cultures.

This separation has been a huge topic on the rich and the poor, the scientist and the artist, and Snow explains how the poor who needn't be poor if there is intelligence in the world and for the responsibility of the country to look at our education system with fresh eyes. Also shown in the video, Changing Education Paradigms, where it talks about creativity and being able to express that through arts and sciences without being told or seen as not intelligent. In David Bohm's, On Creativity, he explains how musicians, the architect, the scientist, etc., all have a need to discover and create something new with their own interests bringing in the third culture. For example, this class shows us the history of art through the basis of two cultures which is arts and sciences coming together to improve our education. I can use the third culture of bring in arts and science(technology) to better my experience in creating and expressing art and my ideas that I feel will be useful to me and those around me.

Sources:

Bohm, D. "On Creativity." JSTOR. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Oct. 2013.

Kelly, Kevin. "The Third Culture." The Third Culture. N.p., n.d. Web. Feb. 199

Snow, C. P. The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution. New York: Cambridge UP, 1959. Print.